Forlorn and Lonely
by BettyHT
Summary: Joe just doesn't understand why his whole family seems to be out to make him miserable.


**Forlorn and Lonely**

Forlorn and lonely, Joe stood at the punch bowl at the Harvest Dance. He just didn't understand women. He had danced with the gal he really wanted to be his gal but she had walked off and left him. He danced with a few more gals but none were at his side after a single dance. Meanwhile his oldest brother Adam was sitting on a bench out in the garden next to the barn with a half dozen women talking with him and getting him anything he wanted. Now Adam couldn't dance, but that seemed to make no difference to the ladies. Heck, the fact that he couldn't dance tonight seemed to have made him even more attractive to the ladies. Joe's special gal had danced with him once and had asked him about how Adam got hurt. He had told her just like he told the others, and then they left him on the dance floor at the end of the dance and headed outside to see how Adam was faring. Geez, they were acting like it was his fault all those wasps stung Adam and made him run to the water trough and jump in to get away from them. Of course he had accidentally on purpose smeared a little honey on the back of Adam's shirt when he told Joe he was going out to get rid of that wasp nest so no one would get stung. That black shirt never showed it was dirty at all, and those wasps had headed right for that honey. He was just supposed to get a few stings not sprain his ankle. There had just been one teeny little itsy bitsy problem with that. Joe had neglected to fix the leak in the trough and it only had a couple of inches of water in it as all the rest had leaked out. So when Adam went to dive in, he had to catch himself instead, and that's when the mud next to the water trough became a real issue because he couldn't stop himself from falling when he stepped in that mud. Now Adam sat outside with all sorts of women attending him, and Joe was alone and miserable.

Well technically Joe wasn't alone. There were all sorts of married women, spinsters, and widows at the dance looking for a partner. Adam and Hoss would have danced with some of them if they could, but both of them were out of the action for the time being. Now Hoss wasn't supposed to get hurt either. Joe had conveniently lost their lunch when they were out working that day. Then he made sure Hoss was late for dinner. The idea was that Hoss would be eating when Joe was already at the dance lining up his lady for dancing. But Hoss didn't eat like he usually did. He said he had to help Adam get up on his horse and then to dismount at the dance. The real problem with that was that Hoss was weak with hunger by the time they rode into Virginia City, and when he helped Adam dismount, he lost his balance and fell hitting his head protecting his older brother from more injuries. Now he sat over on the side of the dance floor with a big white bandage on his head. White bandages must be a universal signal to women to please come sit with me. There had to be at least a half dozen or so gals who were making sure Hoss had plenty of food, drink, and company. Every now and then one of them would caress his cheek or hold his hand to soothe him. It seemed they were all outdoing themselves playing nurse to the gallant hero. None of them had a moment to spare for Joe, and when Joe saw his special gal over there, he had to have more punch.

Now none of this would have happened if his brothers had been in a more sharing mood at the last dance. The gal that Joe had been hoping to lead around the dance floor that night had set her sights on Adam who did nothing to dissuade her even though he knew that Joe wanted her. He smirked at least once an hour it seemed to Joe. Of course he could have been smiling at something the lady said but that really didn't matter to Joe. He was sure his brother was enjoying being able to monopolize the evening of the gal Joe wanted. Then Joe thought he could dance with the other girl he had been seeing, but she had seen him ogling the one Adam had on his arm, so she asked Hoss to fill up her dance card just to spite Joe. He was absolutely certain that was what happened. The only conclusion he could draw was that he needed to hurt himself the day of the next dance. That was the plan. He decided to get a slip of paper and write that down because he had already had twenty-two of those little cups of punch, and there was a chance it might affect his memory. He was absolutely sure that was the only problem.

Ben came over to tell Joe it was time to leave. He told his Pa he didn't think it was that late, and his Pa said it was late enough. Now what was that supposed to mean anyway? Joe was upset with his brothers and now with his Pa. Why couldn't anyone let him have any fun, anyway? Well he threw out his arms as he stated his objections to his father's order and just happened to hit ole Nate from the blacksmith shop. Nate demanded an apology so Joe told him he was sorry he had been standing too close and got himself hurt. That did it apparently for Nate because he swung. The next problem was that Joe ducked, and Ben took it right in the kisser. If there was a beautiful woman left in the room, she rushed to his father's side with cool cloths to soothe the pain and all sorts of tender endearments for the patriarch of the Ponderosa. Nate wasn't happy either, and he pushed Joe outside and up against the side of the barn where he gave him a few well placed blows. Then Roy came to see what all the commotion was and made Joe go over to the jail to pay a fine for disturbing the peace. Nate had to pay too but said he didn't mind because he had done what he thought was right. Well eventually, they all managed to mount up on horses to ride home.

The next morning as all four nursed their aches and bruises, Ben told Joe that he could do all the chores for the next week for all the trouble he had caused. Joe was certain his father was being terribly unfair and favoring his two brothers over him. He decided he would do the chores and work on a plan of revenge. Ben could see it in his eyes and warned him not to think about any kind of revenge. He doubted his words of advice to Joe did any good. They seldom did. Some boys never learn.


End file.
